The adventures of Noel the Redguard
by Gandolphdawzrd
Summary: The adventures of Noel the Redguard is an Elder Scrolls (Skyrim) fan fiction series based around the protagonist of which it is named after. The story chronicles his adventures in a journal entry format as is common literature in the game series. This plot takes place after the events of the main story of the game.
1. Chapter 1

4E 203, 2nd of Second Seed.

It is Fredas, and almost midday. I've just arrived at Moldering ruins where I am waiting for my companion Aeola the Huntress to come join me. We were separated after a long night spent in the rain, and what a night it has been! I have seen much of Skyrim in the years I have been here; more so during the war between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. Now that the war has ended, I find myself traveling the backroads and plains of this land, looking for new adventures and ruins to explore. Last night we had come across the hut belonging to a fellow name Lund, who unfortunately met his demise before we arrived. As we walked the path to his hut seeking shelter, we were attacked by a swarm of Skeevers. To no surprise, they were easily dispatched, but I wondered why there were so many this close to the hut; a cold chill crept up my spine as I was sure to find the answers upon entry.

As we entered his home, more Skeevers attacked us, but were quickly dispatched. As we searched the hut, we found poor Lund lying in his bed; dead. At first I assumed it was the work of those pesky Skeevers, but upon closer examination of the body, it looked as if he was unharmed by them. He was fairly young for him to have died of age; what could have killed him? As I looked at his table, I saw a bottle of poison, some of its contents were missing. It was clear that this man has taken his life. I looked to Aeola, but to no surprise she took no interest in my curious expression; it's times like this that I wish Serana was still in my company.

As we exited the hut, I looked around the surrounding area and saw what appeared to be a monument made of stones with a ring on it. Perhaps his wife had died, and in his grief he took his life; none of this matters. We climbed the rocks to continue our passage in the plains, shrouded in darkness as I prefer not to bring attention to myself should there be bandits waiting for the opportunity to attack. As we traveled, I saw the most peculiar sight. In the middle of these dark plains, there was a battle being fought; between whom I did not know, but curiosity brought me in for a closer look.

There were several Forsworn engaged in a battle with both Vampires and the Vigilant of Stendarr, a most strange sight to see as these groups rarely encounter each other in such a manner. No sooner did I decide not to engage did Aeola come up behind me with a torch lit; we had been spotted. I conjured my bound bow and fired off a volley arrows, each one being a well placed shot. Almost as soon as the battle began it had ended, and all fell silent on the plains once more. Aeola and I inspected the bodys for the usual; coin, arrows, and anything else of use. There wasn't much in the way of coin to be found, but the Vampires were wearing robes of restoration, which fetch a good amount of coin; enough to compensate for the lack of coin they carried. As the sun slowly began to rise on the plains, I saw many buildings in the distance, it's likely that if we didn't make a move soon, we would be spotted and the whole scenario may be attributed to us. I raised all of the corpses as zombies, and one by one shot them back down till there was no trace of any of them other than the ash piles left behind which would likely blow away in the wind.

I started running southwest for some time until I saw what appeared to be a tent off in the distance; I turned around to Aeola so we could investigate, but she was nowhere to be found; typical. I decided that I would continue on; we had not slept in a day or so, and if the tent was unoccupied, it would be an opportunity for us to get some much needed sleep. While we don't get much restful sleep due to our beast blood as werewolves, but we could still give our bodies a chance to recover a bit from our travels. As I cautiously moved closer to the camp, I stepped on a tree branch, which alerted its occupiers; this time Vampire thralls. I suppose now it makes sense how I ran into Vampires the night before, the must've come from this camp to feed. As they drew closer, I once again conjured my bound bow and attacked, the first Vampire thrall ran right into my arrow, landing between his eyes and killing him quickly; the one behind him wasn't so easy to take down. He blocked my arrows with his shield, while another came from behind, this one an Argonian who dual casted fireball spells. Where I once had the advantage, I now found myself on the defense as I was running to find cover from the barrage of fireballs being sent my way. As the Vampire thrall with the shield came closer, I used my fire breath shout to engulf him in flames, slowing his advance as he tried to fight them off. I used this opportunity to fire the last two arrows which finally took him down for good as his shield was no longer a concern. The Argonian however was still very much a threat as I found it increasingly difficult to dodge his fireballs. "AEOLA" I shouted, but to no avail as she was still nowhere to be found. The Argonian cackled as it continued to lob fireballs at me, but there was a brief pause between attacks; he likely ran out of magicka.

Taking advantage of this brief window of opportunity, I stood up from behind my cover and fired several arrows; he managed to dodge the first, but the second two found their mark. The first hit him in his shoulder, preventing him from sending off a fireball that likely would have hit me as I was exposed; the second hit him in the thigh. As he bent over in pain, I wasted not a second; I drew back on my bow to fire the kill shot, and as I released it, the arrow pierced his heart, killing him instantly. I made my way up to the camp, inspecting the bodies of the Vampire thralls as I passed over them looking for any loot that they may have been carrying; nothing of any value to me. From the camp I could see Rorikstead off in the distance, perhaps the Vampires had been lying wait in the plains to pick off any person who wandered too far from the safety of the roads, but their wait has been in vain as now they are ashes, and their thrall lie dead on the ground beneath me. I waited about an hour for Aeola to appear somewhere in the distance, but still no sign of her; I hope she hasn't encountered any danger, but if so I know she is more than capable of handling herself; it was only but two years ago when I was once her follower. So now I wait here for her at the camp above the Moldering ruins, hoping that she too will come in this direction, and we can once again resume our travels together.


	2. Chapter 2

4E 203, 3rd of Second Seed

I had been waiting for Aeola to return for sometime, and the once rising sun is now just about at its noon position. I decided that while I was waiting I would take a nap. As I was napping, I was dreaming that I was back in Hammerfell; the last time I was there to be exact. I was once again in the Alik'r desert, I had been traveling for several days in search of an artifact deep inside Dwemer ruins; one of the few that remains. While I had enough provisions stored for the journey, the fierce desert winds and sand were beginning to take their toll. I had just begun to see what appeared to be the ruins in the distance when I saw the wind begin to pick up and create a whirlwind in the distance. Not to be undone, I decided that I would try and make it to the ruins before the whirlwind made it here; as it drew closer, the sand became more of a nuisance than before, and I had to shield my eyes with my hands to be able to see anything. I was now close enough to the ruins to see them clearly, it was obvious that the ruins had been dealt substantial damage from the beating winds; it was a surprise that anything was event left to explore. I was within an hours walk away from the ruins when I had noticed that the whirlwind had picked up, and it was coming towards me at an increasing speed. At the base of this whirlwind there appeared to be the outline of some large figure; as I squinted against the sand to gain a better focus, I saw that the figure appeared to be that of a horse, which here meant that there was a rider on it; I was under attack.

I unsheathed my sword in anticipation; whoever the enemy is, they're either using the whirlwind as a cover for an ambush, or they created it themselves. I turned to face my attackers when I sensed that something was behind me. I heard a thunderclap and I turned around just in time to see a fist plunge itself into my face; everything went dark. I awoke from the dream in much the same way I awoke from being knocked out back then; in Skyrim, alone and surrounded by dead bodies. I looked to the horizon and saw that a storm was coming this way, it was likely the thunder that woke me from my sleep. I reached in my pouch and took out some venison and rekindled the fire at the camp. As I ate, I felt a cold chill creep up from behind me, carrying what almost sounded like a hiss with it. I turned around to look and see if anyone was there, but there was no one to be found. The only time I have had such sensations were when I was in the presence of undead; zombies, skeletons, Draugr, and Vampires. I decided to enter the Mouldering ruins to investigate; I couldn't shake the feeling I've had since that cold chill.

As I descended down a ladder into the ruins, I once again felt the eerie chill; only this time it was allover me. As I traveled down deeper, I could hear the faint voices of people talking. I crouched down as I approached nearer, concealing my presence as to not alert them; I had crept behind a large pile of rubble so I could listen to their conversation. As I listened, I was able to confirm that they were in fact Vampires, and based on the chill in the air, rather powerful ones at that. They were planning on luring some of the villagers from Rorikstead to the ruins so that they may feed; apparently they found the guard rather lax and were willing to take them on should something go wrong in their attempt. I decided that they would share the same fate as their companions; as I conjured my bound bow and slowly rose to stealthily dispose of them, my armor knocked down some of the rubble alerting them to my presence. The Vampires turned in my direction, both of them wielded magick; the one furthest back raised several Draugr, while the one closest to me began to fire ice spikes at me. I ducked behind the rubble again to avoid her attacks, but I knew that I had to take them out quick. Just these two Vampires were enough to deal with, having Draugr to deal with as well only further complicated things. I slightly leaned over the rubble and fired an arrow at her, hitting her in the foot. As she screamed, the ice spike that was about to be fired at me was redirected at the approaching Draugr, hitting one in the back and knocking it into another, turning them both to ash. As she knelt down to pull the arrow from her foot, I stood up to get a better position, and shot another arrow at her, this one finding its target through her neck. She stood up reaching out to the other Vampire while gurgling on her blood before she fell to the ground and died.

The other Vampire now enraged at the death of his companion fired a volley of ice spikes of his own at me; I quickly dropped down to avoid them. While I may have had the advantage of higher ground, he had a huge amount of magicka to use against me, the mark of a master Vampire. As he fired ice spikes at me with one hand, he raised more Draugr with the other. I no longer had any advantage over him as I was pinned down and the Draugr were drawing near. I decided to summon a wolf familiar, one that I have used in previous engagements where just weapons wasn't good enough. The wolf howled as it entered our realm, and quickly charged at the incoming Draugr, halting their advance and drawing the attention of the Vampire. With not a moment to spare, I stood up to take aim, and just as the Vampire turned his attention back to me, I fired an arrow at him, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. When he died, the remaining Draugr no longer bound to his magicka returned to their rest. I checked their bodies for any loot they may have; nothing of interest. Vampires of this caliber rarely ever wear anything other than black robes, and certainly don't carry much coin. After I searched the burial urns around the ruins, I climbed back out of the ruins to the surface, looking to see if Aeola had come; she had not. With the storm coming in close, I decided that I would return to Lakeview Manor where my wife and children were; we usually meet at my nearest house when we are separated like this, such is the case with all the followers I've had. I had arrived home early this morning before the sun came up and there Aeola waited for me outside as expected.

Before entering my house, I decided that it would be best if I scouted the area to make sure there were no bandits, or anything of the sort that would lie in wait to prey on my family. It was but a month ago that I had returned from a journey when I had discovered that my wife had been kidnapped. Fortunately Lob, the Orc whom I hired to maintain the property managed to hide the children in the basement, protecting them from harm; but by time he had returned to the ward them off they had already left, leaving behind a ransom note. I am a terrible negotiator in such situations, and rather than pay the ransom, I went to their hideout, killed them all and rescued my wife. I'm afraid that my dear Camilla hasn't quite been the same since. As Aeola and I walked down to the path leading to Falkreath, I heard the rustling of leaves as birds flew out, disturbed by something nearby. As we walked to investigate, two Blood Horkers dashed out from some rocks by the water to attack us; this particular group of bandits have traveled a long way to die. Aeola and I drew our bows and shot our arrows at them; it was still dark so they weren't easy to see, but since they had swords and we had bows and arrows, we were able to keep them at a distance until we were able to finally take them down. Satisfied that there were no other threats, I decided that we would return to the house where we could both get some rest. Aeola went to the bed on the second floor across from where Lob slept, and I walked over to my children to check on them before climbing into my own with Camilla.

When I awoke, Camilla and the children had already left the house; after I had ate some breakfast that she had left for me, I went outside to spend some time with my family. My children were outside playing in front of the house; my son Hroar and my daughter Runa were sword fighting, and Runa was the better of the two. I suppose this would only make sense as she spends more time practicing than he does, Hroar seems to prefer reading over sword play. I went to the back of my house to find Camilla out by the apiary, likely gathering some honey. She looked at me and smiled as she struggled to make her way to the apiary to gather the honey; for some reason, she has been walking backwards since she was kidnapped. At first I found it amusing, but now I feel like I should probably look into it further since it has been some time this has been going on. I told her that I was going to Falkreath to sell some of the loot that I had picked up in my recent travels; "goodbye my love" she said as I walked back towards the road. As Aeola and I traveled closer to Falkreath, we passed by the remains of what used to be the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary before it was burned down. As we began to make our way past it, I heard the sound of an arrow being shot, followed by a shove on my shoulder as it was deflected off my armor. Fortunately it was just a steel arrow, and my Nordic armor can easily handle them without so much as receiving a scratch.

I looked around to see where the arrow came from when Aeola shot an arrow in front of us, hitting her target somewhere in the bushes. I heard a groan and saw a man fall from his hiding place; it was a Penitus Oculatus agent. These people have been hunting me down since I helped the Dark Brotherhood survive their attempts at removing them from Skyrim, and eventually became the Listener for the Dark Brotherhood, the highest position one could achieve. After checking him for loot, I was trying to decide on whether I would raise him as a zombie, or leave his corpse for the animals to deal with. I decided that he wasn't worth my time and continued on to Falkreath. Once I arrived, I immediately walked to Grey Pine Goods to sell my loot to Solaf, the proprietor of the shop. After a bit of bartering with him, I left and went to the Dead Man's Drink for a bit of mead; it had been some time since I've had a belly full of mead and a good song. After speaking to the proprietor Valga Vinicia about any new bounties the Jarl may have sent out, I sat down by the fire with my cup full of mead. So here I now sit; drinking my mead while listening to Delacourt the Bard sing a Tale of Tongues.


	3. Chapter 3

4E 203, 4th of Second Seed

I had left Dead Man's Drink after spending what seemed like hours drinking and singing songs along with the Bard and company; once I realized that I may have had a bit too much to drink, I decided that it was time to go back home to my family. I had promised Camilla that I would make it home in time for dinner and I did not wish to disappoint her; I had received a bounty from Valga that came from the Jarl's men to slay a Giant at Secunda's Kiss, one of the many camp grounds they use while herding their Mammoth around Skyrim. I personally do not take much pleasure in killing Giants, not just because of the fact that they are generally peaceful, but also because when they are enraged they can become formidable enemies. Nevertheless, I am far from the point in my life where I am ready to settle down and open a shop in one of the towns, or even become a member of the guard. I have achieved so many positions within various organizations, there's enough work and adventures available to me to last a lifetime; I only hope that my children inherit my sense of adventure. Aeola and I left Falkreath to head back to Lakeview Manor, walking back on the same path from which we came. As we walked, Aeola had a fit of coughs; perhaps she is ill or has taken more damage in one of our adventures than she was willing to let on, either way it may be time to give her a break from our travels so she can get some much needed recovery and tend to her own affairs. As we made our way down the road, we passed a Vigilant of Stendarr, who had apparently just finished a battle with a Flame Atronach, as when we were able to see a burst of flames rise from the battle site before we arrived. He seemed pleasant enough, and didn't appear to be critically wounded, but I'm sure that if he knew that Aeola and I were both Werewolves, perhaps he would've tried his luck with us, and met his end right next to the Flame Atronach he had just slain. I harvested some of the fire salts from its body to use in alchemy and made my way home, where my family was inside waiting for me. After supper, I felt the mead I had drank earlier take its effect, so I decided that I would retire for the evening rather early, as Aeola and I had a long journey ahead of us to Secunda's Kiss the next day. I had awakened early this morning to find my family in deep sleep, I dare not disturb them even though as with any journey, I never know which one will be my last. I left the bedroom to find that while I was asleep, Camilla had packed some provisions for us to take on the journey ahead. Aeola and I gathered our things and made off to slay the Giant. Since we left before sunrise, we made great time and arrived just a few hours after the sun came up, and were able to scout around the area to see what would be the best means of attacking him. It appeared that the Giant was alone, so the best way to take him down would be from a distance, as fighting a Giant within its striking range could prove to be a fatal mistake.

As Aeola and I readied our arrows to fire upon the Giant, I felt a large gust of wind blow from behind me, so much so that it appeared that even the Giant had felt it. I had turned around in time to see a blue scaled Dragon fly overhead; the last thing we needed right now, however it appeared that it had little interest in us. The Dragon roared as it circled over Secunda's Kiss, alerting the Giant to its presence, even though the Giant was still not aware of us. Aeola had aimed at the Dragon, ready to fire her arrow when I stayed her hand; perhaps this would be advantageous to us if they were to fight each other I said. If one were to kill the other, then we would have to do nothing more than to finish the survivor off rather than risk having to engage them both; a brilliant strategy, but only in theory. Aeola lowered her bow and we watched the battle between the Giant and the Dragon wage on; for an average person such a scene would be grounds to run for safety, but after everything I've seen and experienced since in this land of Skyrim, I've learned that there are greater things to fear than death so we may as well enjoy the show. While the Dragon had the advantage of flight, its attacks had limited range and it had to come in somewhat close to attack; this is where the Giant has the advantage due to it being as tall as four men, and a club that is as long as two. The Dragon managed to hit the Giant with its ice breath as it flew in close, but was almost swatted away by the Giant's club.

I assumed it decided that once was enough, as the Dragon now circling above us decided that it would go after a smaller target...us. The Dragon roared as flew towards us; As it was within range, it fired its ice breath at us, forcing us to dive in different directions to evade the attack. I have found that I have an affinity for the bow and arrow, the very reason why I enlisted the help of Aeola as my companion as she being a Huntress is naturally talented with its use as well; but few archers can match their arrows to a flying Dragon with much success. The Giant now aware that he was not alone looked in our direction; while it didn't seem like he was coming to attack us as well, it didn't seem like he was looking to help us either. I cant say that I blame him much, it's not like we were planning to help him either, in fact I came to capitalize on his death. Before the Dragon could make another pass at us, Aeola put away her bow and grabbed her staff of chain lightning, firing a massive lightning blot that made the Dragon change direction to evade it. "KEEP FIRING!" I told her as I began to fire off arrows, trying to anticipate the Dragons course so I could fire my arrows in front of it, causing it to fly into them. While I wasn't meeting much success hitting the Dragon, Aeola and I's combined efforts allowed us to box the Dragon in, which meant we were able to direct its path. I told Aeola to fire the lightening slightly above it, forcing it to fly down; she did it and it worked as expected as the Dragon dove down and below her fire, but between us and the Giant. Almost as if on cue, the Giant charged forward towards the Dragon; I fired my arrows at its wings, tearing the thin skin that gave it flight and forced it to land. As it crash landed, the ground shook from the impact, causing Aeola and I to stumble back. As we regained our footing, the Dragon opened its mouth in preparation to fire its ice breath at us when the Giant came from behind and clubbed the Dragon in the back of its head; the Dragon slammed its head into the nearby rocks from the impact, only increasing its effectiveness. Seizing the moment, Aeola and I concentrated our fire on the Dragon, putting it down for good. The Giant, seeming satisfied with the results grunted as it scratched its beard; after a moment, the Giant turned back in our direction as is deciding on what to do about us. There was this awkward moment of pause where neither of us made a move, when out of no where another Giant came from somewhere where we initially saw the first; this one seemed rather annoyed, and sure of what it wanted to do. As the first Giant turned its head to the second, the second slammed its club in the ground sending dirt flying; he then raised his club up over his head as if he were making a taunt, or a threat. I decided that I would take no chances and kill them both; the Dragon aside, this is what we were here for. One would think that after having possibly being saved by the Giant, I would just forgo the bounty and go on another adventure right? Perhaps so, but such logic would only apply if you've never lived in a harsh environment such as Skyrim, or even Hammerfell for that matter; I have both the pleasure and displeasure of having lived in both, where there is no cooperation here between man and wild, only survival. For both us and the Giant, there was no question as to whether or not we assisted each other; we both ensured our own survivals, and it so happened that in the process we had to direct our efforts towards the same end. Now that that matter of business is aside, the Giant must be finished off; it is not so much that fact that bothers me, but more the fact that I have kill two, and a Dragon in the process, only to be compensated for the one.

I readied my conjured bound bow and fired a shot at the second Giant, hitting him in the thigh, just above the knee. He roared in pain, causing the first Giant to now spring into action and charge towards us. Aeola took out her staff of frost storms, and holding it in one hand, and her staff of chain lighting, she charged forward towards the Giants to meet them head on. Our attacks were focused on taking down the Giant running towards us, and they indeed halted his advance, but we did not give much attention to the second Giant. He too now ran towards Aeola who still did not see him coming as she was taking pleasure is seeing the Giant helplessly try to block her attacks. I tried to call out to her but there was too much noise and I was too far; I fired a volley of arrows at the second Giant but aside from a few, he managed to swat most of them away with his club. As he now towered over Aeola she turned her head up to him just in time to see him stomp his foot down, knocking her back in a cloud of dust and debris. The attack left her stunned for a moment, so I now ran towards her and conjured my wolf familiar to give me an opportunity to come to her aid. My familiar lunged at the second Giant but was quickly sent back to Oblivion, as the Giant swept it away with its club. While it didn't buy me enough time to make it to Aeola, it did give her enough time to get back on her feet. She began attacking the Giants again, this time with a staff trained on each one; I made it within several feet of her when the first Giant raised up his club and swung it down at Aeola. The force of the impact sent her flying in the air, my eyes could hardly keep up with the speed. "AEOLA NO!" I shouted as my companion was likely dead, and if not would most likely be when she hit the Giant swung his club at me, narrowly missing his target as I ran backwards, trying to fire arrows at him in the process. While running backwards, I had forgot about the Dragon corpse and tripped over its tail, causing me to fire an arrow straight into the air as I fell. The Giants rushed to me as I was scrambling to get back on my feet, and I just missed getting launched into the air like Aeola by a hair. I turned around to sprint away from them, as each one of their steps were equal to about six of mine, and they sparing no stamina chasing me down. I ran towards a cliff and jumped over the edge, briefly rolling down to the ground below; when the Giants stood over the edge, I fired my arrows at them, each one hitting their target as the Giants were completely exposed. Deciding not to jump down, the doubled back and went around the cliff to once again resume chase, giving me an opportunity to create more distance between us. Now on the plains below, I ran further away from Secunda's Kiss towards Western Watchtower in the distance; getting them to open ground would give me an advantage over them so long as I maintain my distance. The Giants gave chase, but were critically wounded as I hit them with my arrows, aiming for their knees and shoulders in order to incapacitate them. The second Giant having taken the most damage, knelt down on the ground as his injuries would no longer allow him to give chase. The first Giant stopped his pursuit to turn and see his companion down; as he watched, I fired an arrow that hit him in the chest, finally killing him.

The first Giant once again turned back to me with a curious expression on his face, a mix of both sorrow and rage; perhaps I had just slain his kin. The Giant was breathing heavy as his own injuries were wearing him down, but as if he knew it was his final act, the Giant slammed his club into the ground before raising it up over his head in defiance. I admired the Giant for this; he knew he was going to die, but rather than try to turn and run he stood his ground. I figured he had suffered enough and it was time to end this; I fired two arrows in rapid succession, both hitting him below his ribs and pointed up towards his heart. The Giant knelt down on one knee, took two more deep breaths as he looked at me and died. While I was checking the bodies, I heard shuffling in the grass behind me. I turned around with an arrow ready to fire to find that it was pointed at Aeola, who somehow had managed to survive a strike that would've more than likely killed anyone else. I shouldn't be surprised; she is a first class warrior, and I suppose that the glass armor she was wearing shielded her from the brunt of the damage, but still... I lowered my bow as Aeola came up to me, she seemed to be fine but clearly hasn't quite caught her breath as the club hit her directly in her chest; "are we going?" she said in between breaths, I nodded my head and smiled, happy that she was even able to speak at though it was still well before midday, I decided that it was likely unwise for Aeola to travel after such a blow, and that we should at least get a meal and some rest before we set off. We walked to the remains of what used to be a house that lies somewhere between Western Watchtower and Fort Greymoor; there was no roof, but at least there was a bed, and since the weather was clear today, not having cover was not an issue. While Aeola laid down to get some rest, I went out into the plains to find us some food; we still had provisions, but it's always better to gather food locally sourced, as you never know when you'll need those provisions again and not have them. I found a large deer that would provide us with the venison we would be eating; after killing and dressing the meat, I made my way back to the house where I had made a fire pit outside to cook on. I placed the venison on the spit and then went back inside to check on Aeola when I saw that she was no longer in the bed. I heard soft footsteps behind me which I had at first assumed to be her when I sensed a murderous aura; it wasn't her. "Don't move, give me all of your valuables before I cut you down" said the Khajiit behind me with its distinct accent. I slowly turned around to see him with a dagger pointed at me wearing glass armor similar to Aeola's, only he wore a hood while she wears a helm.

"If you value you your life, you will do as I say and hand over your treasures: the Khajiit hissed. "Where's Aeola" I asked him, but when I did it seemed that my response confused him. "Who is Aeola? Did you not hear me? Give me your valuables before I take your life" he said more firmly and likely annoyed. "I cant be bothered with this" I said as I turned away from him deciding he wasn't worth my time and walked out the side of the house to look for Aeola. "Don't you DARE disregard me! I will take your LIFE! And who the hell is AEOLA!?" yelled the now furious Khajiit from inside the house; "I'm right here". He turned around to see Aeola standing behind him, right before she bashed her shield into him knocking him back into a wall. He sprang to his feet and lunged at Aeola with his dagger, but fell short as I had fired an arrow into his calf, causing him to stumble in front of Aeola who once again bashed him with her shield, causing him to fall to his side. Aeola swung her Daedric Axe at him; he managed to roll away and avoid being killed by it, but he could not save his tail, which now lies separated from his body. As he rolled, he did so in such a way that he ended up facing me, and as he set his eyes on me I fired three arrows at him, all three hitting him in the gut; the Khajiit was no more. It's rather unfortunate really that this was to be his fate. the Cat-folk from the land of Elsweyr are more often than not met with hostility here in Skyrim; such is the case for pretty much everyone who isn't a Nord. But with the Khajiit, they aren't even allowed into most towns, and are generally forced to either work in trade caravans, as a bandit, or a thief. Empathy aside, he still attacked us, and we do have a good amount of valuables on us; I stripped him of his armor and anything else he had of value and dumped his body outside. Aeola once again laid down to rest as I went to check on the venison. So here I am, sitting outside by this fire, writing this down as I listen to the crackle of the fire, and the scent of roast venison fills my nostrils.


	4. Chapter 4

4E 203, 6th of Second Seed.

It is Tirdas, and very early in the morning, or perhaps late at night. I had another dream; this one not like the one before, why am I dreaming all of a sudden? I woke up in a bed, not much like the one Aeola was sleeping in; I was surrounded by a darkness so deep, I was afraid to step of the bed for I might for into Oblivion. While sitting in the bed, I began to hear soft whispers; they sounded as if they came from inside of my head than from around me. "My son" they said in such a soft and sweet tone of voice that it almost sounded motherly if it weren't for the dark undertones in what was clearly a woman's voice. "Who are you? Show yourself!" I said in a firm, but non threatening manner as I was still not sure of where I was, or what I should come to expect. "My son, you must come see me now...wake up" she whispered. "Who are you? and where?" I inquired still not making any sense of it all. "Come see me my son, wake up...wake up...WAKE UP!". "WAKE UP!" Aeola said as she shoved me awake, startling me in the process; I think she may have been startled as well because she has seldom if ever had to shake me awake. "Are you ok?" she asked looking at me as if I bumped my head and was gushing blood; "yeah, I'm fine". "So are we going?" She asked as I blinked several times still trying to figure out if I was dreaming or awake. I looked around that is was now night, and we were not in the kind of place you want to stay in at night for long; so we grabbed our things and made the journey back to Falkreath.

We arrived well after the hours in which people were able to speak with the Jarl, but Telka the Steward and I had a good relationship, and since I was collecting the reward from her anyway, she might not mind being disturbed. After briefly speaking with Telka and taking my reward, I decided I would stop at Dead Man's Drink to share a celebratory drink of Mead with Aeola; I was still worried about her, and wasn't sure if we should part ways for now or continue one together. She might want to stay but if that attack from the Giant has affected her in anyway, it could cost us both our lives in a battle; but I haven't quite decided yet, I'll watch her for a bit and make my decision then. After speaking with Valga for a new bounty and drinking a few rounds of Mead, I decided that we would walk back to Lakeview Manor to rest there instead of staying in Falkreath. We both had the coin to spare, but I had a home not that far away. As I walked towards the road towards my home, one of guard walked up to me; "psst, hey! I know who you are, hail Sithis" he said with a crooked smile. I nodded at him and continued toward the road; could this have something to do with the dream? I don't believe in coincidences; perhaps it was time to visit the Night Mother and the Dark Brotherhood again.

As we walked to Lakeview Manor, I saw what appeared to be the light of torches in the distance, about four of them; it was likely an escort or a caravan. As we got closer, I saw that it was in fact an escort; four Imperial Legion soldiers were escorting a captured Stormcloak. I'm not sure why this keeps happening; I guess nobody told either side that the war was over. While the war waged, I fought alongside the Stormcloaks; there was no real incentive for me in that, they wanted Skyrim to remain Nord country and weren't too keen on outsiders. However, a part of me could understand that, as such was the case for me back in Hammerfell; that was our land and we were ready to give our lives to keep it that way. It is for that reason and that reason only that I decided to intervene. Aeola wanted to see the Imperials win, and she didn't take to kindly to me attacking them unless provoked; so the only way for me to help this man was to cut his bindings loose and when they turned to attack me she would assist, so that was the plan. I stealthily crept up behind the Stormcloak and cut his bindings; as he looked out the corner of his eye, he saw me signal him to stay silent as I slipped him a dagger. "Stormcloak" he said in appreciation as he walked several more feet before attacking the Soldier in slightly ahead of him. The others saw me and what had just happened and drew their swords, "This is Imperial business, stay out!" one of the soldiers said as he began made his way back towards us to attack. Aeola frowned as she took her bow and fired an arrow at the feet of the guard closest to me.

The Stormcloak ran ahead of us as three of the Imperial soldiers had surrounded me to attack; I ran back several paces and pulled out the Sanguin Rose, a staff which can summon a Daedra to fight for me. I pointed the staff in front of me and summoned a Daedra with it; it smelled of fire and Sulphur as it transition from the Oblivion realm into ours. The Imperial soldiers seeing the Daedra stopped in their tracks and looked at each other as if the answer to their next move was written on each others faces. The Daedra turned in their direction and raised his two handed sword up as he charged at the soldiers; this gave me an opportunity to get a bit of distance between us so I could conjure my bound bow and launch an attack of my own. Aeola fired an arrow at one of the soldiers, hitting him in the shoulder mere inches away from his neck; she's getting sloppy. The Daedra however finished the job as he slashed the soldier from his shoulder down to his gut. One of the other soldiers managed to slice the Daedra in the shoulder, but it seemed that all it did was further provoke it. The Daedra turned toward the soldier, bringing its sword with it, slitting the soldiers throat. As he grabbed at his neck looking up at the Daedra in horror, Aeola fired another arrow, this time hitting that soldier between his ribs, finishing him off. The third soldier now terrified after seeing his companions cut down with ease, ran towards the soldier fighting the Stormcloak. The Imperial soldier had the advantage with his swords, but the Stormcloak was not going down without a fight. As the third soldier ran, I fired an arrow at him, hitting him in the back of the neck; he arched his back from the impact and fell to the ground dead.

Aware of the fate of his companions, the remaining soldier decided that he would at least take the Stormcloak down if he were to die too, and madly swung his sword at the Stormcloak in an effort to finish him off. The Daedra had made its way up to the soldier, and slashed him in the back; in that same moment, the Stormcloak ran his dagger into the soldiers belly, groaning in agonizing pain as he dropped to his knees and died. "Thank you friend, Talos guide you" said the Stormcloak as he brought his fist to his chest in salute. I watched him search the soldiers of any weapons and armor he could use, and make his way up the road to freedom. I turned to Aeola and waved for her to come; as she did, I heard her cough and in the light of her torch I could see that it was blood. "Aeola...I", "I'm fine" she interjected before I could finish my statement. As we walked further up the road, we once again saw the Stormcloak that we saw earlier, he was crouched down behind a tree. I started to walk towards him to see if he was ok when he darted away from the tree towards another place of cover when I heard the whistle of an arrow flying, and saw him flip as he fell to the ground. He rolled and looked towards me and extended his hand out to me for help, and a moment later three arrows found their mark in his back, killing him.

The Daedra now sensing the threat ran ahead towards the direction that the arrow came from; there was an overhead walkway going across the width of the road, bandits. The bandits pulled a lever and large boulders dropped down onto the Daedra; it tried to block them with its sword, but the weight was too much and they crushed it, sending it back to Oblivion. The boulders now on the ground, began rolling downhill, right towards us; Aeola and I jumped off to the side of the road to avoid being crushed ourselves. As they passed, I raised my head to see where the bandits were when an arrow hit a tree just a few inches from my head; this archer had talent. Aeola grabbed her staff of fire storms and fired a massive blast of flames where the two bandit archers were hiding, hitting one and causing the other to jump down to avoid the blast. The fall had injured the bandit as he yelled in agony, grabbing his foot; Aeola lined up another blast from her staff that set him on fire, causing him to flail around screaming for a few moments before he finally stopped moving. I went to check on the Stormcloak that I had seen earlier; I knew he was dead, but a part of me hoping that he may have somehow survived. After we checked the bodies, we walked the rest of the way as the sun slowly began to rise; I had just made it home in time to see my family wake up. After eating breakfast and giving the children their allowance, I set off to Dawnstar to speak with the Night Mother.

Since losing Shadowmere, I've gotten accustomed to traveling around Skyrim of foot instead of horseback, but Aeola was in no condition for walking such a distance. Instead I made use of Ganjur, our horse drawn carriage driver who I usually keep home to take my family where they need to go; this time he would take us, as since I have only one horse now, there is no way to get her aside from on foot. "Where are we going?" Said Ganjur, surprised to see Aeola and I getting in the carriage instead of my wife and children; "to Dawnstar" I replied. As we rode away from the house, Ganjur tried to strike up a conversation with me about how he's yet to see a Khajiit in person; this made me think back to that Khajiit thief I had killed , a conversation that I no longer desired to be a part of. As he continued to talk to himself, I gazed out into the wilderness of Skyrim; such a stark contrast from my homeland Hammerfell. We had arrived in Dawnstar that evening; about half way into the trip Ganjur realized that he was talking to himself and finally shut his mouth, whistling the rest of the ride instead. I told Aeola to wait for me in Dawnstar as I had to go off on my own for a bit; she nodded and we went our separate ways. The entrance to the Dark Brotherhoods Dawnstar sanctuary lies outside of the town; few people knew about it and I intended to keep it that way, I am the Listener after all.

As I made my way in, Nazir was sitting at the table by the entrance. Every time I see him I get homesick; he is the only Redguard I've seen in Skyrim who still wears the same clothes we would had we still been in Hammerfell. "This place is already starting to feel like home; must be all the bloodstains" he said with a grin. "Must be" I said as I walked past him; as disturbing as his statement sounds, it makes perfect sense when you're part of a brotherhood of assassins. I made my way up the stairs, where I saw Cicero standing by the coffin of the Night Mother, chuckling madly as if they were having a good joke; as he saw me coming towards him, his expression changed as he moved to the side in silence. As I stood in front of the Night Mother, I once again heard her whispers. "Yet another child has prayed to their mother; speak to the unemployed laborer in Rorikstead. Receive his gold and kill the target; so begins a contract, bound in blood..." she whispered in a way that was both comforting and chilling. Acknowledging her words, I stepped back and began to make my way out of the sanctuary; Cicero went back to the coffin and began madly chuckling again as if their joke never ended.

After leaving the sanctuary, I walked into Dawnstar, where I met up with Aeola at the Windpeak Inn; I found her sitting with a cup of Mead at a table in the back. "So, are we going?" she asked me before taking a large swig of Mead; "Yeah, we're going to leave soon". "Where to?" she asked right before taking another large swig; "Rorikstead". Aeola finished off the rest of her Mead before standing up from the table; "lets get going then" she said. "Sure, but lets get a bite to eat first; we could use a good meal" I said. She thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement before sitting back down. I spoke to Thoring the proprietor, and asked him us some cooked beef, bread, baked potatoes, and some more Mead; he nodded as he went off to prepare our meal. I sat down at a bench by the fire, where I now wait for this great meal that I am soon to eat; hoping that the food and Mead can take my mind off of my concerns for Aeola.


	5. Chapter 5

4E 203, 7th of Second Seed.

It is Middas, and a few hours after sunrise. We had taken the carriage to Rorikstead, a small but pleasant village along the main roads. Wasting no time as there wasn't much else to do there, we went straight to the Frostfruit Inn, where the contact was supposed to be waiting for us. It is an interesting thing seeing a person who is anxiously waiting on something or someone; you can always tell them apart from the rest of the crowd. I spotted him with ease; a hardy Nord who looked as if at any moment, someone was going to come from behind him and attack. "Wait here" I told Aeola as we stood by one of the tables; as she sat down I made my way to the Nord. He must've had a similar way of recognizing me as an assassin, for a he turned in my direction and saw me, his face grew pale. I motioned for him to sit down at a table outside of earshot from anyone else so we can speak in privacy. "So you're the one from the...Dark Brotherhood?" he said rather timidly, as if he wasn't sure he should be saying such a thing out loud; I nodded and he eased up a bit. "I need you to kill the laborer at Katla's farm; here's the payment...make it painful". He gave me the payment for the contract and walked out of the inn in a hurry; as if he were being watched by someone; I stood up and went back to Aeola when I had paused for a moment. On the other side of the inn there was a young man dressed as if he were an adventurer; poorly at that. As I walked in his direction I must've caught his attention, because he put down the bread he was eating to focus on who it was that was walking towards him.

"Good to see you! How would you like to hire a brave, if untested mercenary?" He asked as he put down his drink and smiled; looking at him, I could clearly see that he was indeed untested. His armor was beginning to show signs of rust, likely something second hand; his steel sword looked as if it could barely chop wood. A part of me wanted to laugh at him and walk away, but something about him reminded me of my beginnings as an adventurer. "So, you're a mercenary?" I asked him as he took another swig of his drink; from the smell of it, it was likely ale. "It seemed like the best way to see the world and make some coin. Sure I'm a little "green", but what I lack in experience, I make up in courage". "What is your name then mercenary?" I asked him now finding him more entertaining than anything else. "Erik the Slayer" He said with a wide grin; "Erik...the Slayer? Wow.". "My father says I should pick a name that describes who I really am, but nobody's going to hire Erik "Greenthumb" or Erik "Ho pusher". No... I need a name that would inspire fear in my enemies! When I have enemies that is". I smiled thinking about how poor of a companion he would make to replace Aeola while she recovered, but at this point I don't really have many options. "I'll think about" I said as I walked away towards Aeola, even though I already knew what I had decided on doing. I walked to the table and sat down next to Aeola, her face looked as if she knew what I was going to tell her. "Yes? What do you need?" she asked; "Aeola" I said before I paused for a moment. "We need to go our separate ways for now. You need some time to recover from your wounds and having you push on without healing properly will do neither of us no favors. When you're feeling better, send a courier and I'll come to Whiterun so we can resume where we left off". Aeola stared at me for a moment without blinking before she finally settled on what it was she wanted to say to that. "Ok, I'm heading home...if you need me". I walked outside with her to the carriage and directed Ganjur to take her to Whiterun, and then return back to Lakeview Manor; Aeola had a sad expression in her face as I waved her off, I've never seen her look sad before.

I walked back into the inn to once again speak to Erik, as if he knew that I was going to take him on, he stood up. "How much to hire you?" I asked him; he stroked his chin with his fingers as if settling on a fair price for his services. "10,000 gold seems fair". How fortunate for him that I was not drinking, for I would of spit it out at him in disgust. "I'm not paying 10,000 gold for a mercenary who's never even taken any contracts; 500 gold or you can go back to tending to your fields". I could not tell if his expression was one of offense or admiration, but after a moment to thing about it, he agreed. I reached in my pouch and grabbed some armor that I had intended to sell, but decided that giving it to him would be a better investment, and would make his 500 gold fee worthwhile. None of the armor really matched, but it was certainly better than what he had before; I also gave him a staff and an ebony sword that would do a lot more damage than the steel sword he wad, which was good for nothing more than a shave. "So, where are we going?" he said rather excited to finally live his dream; "We're going to Katla's farm, grab your things". He grabbed his belongings and we left the inn, making the long trek to the farm.

When we arrived at the farm it was late at night, and everyone had already retired for the evening; everyone but the man who was about to die. He was a rather tall and muscular Nord of mid age, he looked as if he has spent many a day doing arduous labor. " Who is that guy? A friend of yours?" Erik asked; "no...he's our target". Erik stood there with his torch in hand looking confused about what I said as I started to make my way towards the laborer; he had just turned a corner along the side of a house, perfect because I would be able to kill him without causing much commotion. " Unsheathed my ebony blade and raised it up to strike him down; he turned around sensing someone behind him, just in time to see me bring my blade down as he jumped out of the way. "Oh, you're looking for a fight are you?" he asked as he pulled out a dagger; he ran towards me to strike, but I side stepped him, easily avoiding his attack. As he regained his footing, he turned around to launch another attack when I saw a sword being ran through his gut; Erik had just made his first kill. Erik pulled his sword out and watched as the man dropped down to the ground where he lie dead; another soul claimed in the name of Sithis. I have to say, I was rather impressed; while he didn't appear to be of much use, he killed that man as if he had done it a thousand times before.

"So...what now? Do we just...leave him here?" Erik asked; "Yeah, pretty much". "So...what do we do now?" Erik asked, sounding uncertain if I was going to cut him loose or not. "Well, for now lets walk around until adventure finds us" I said as I began to walk down the road away from the farm. From Katla's farm, we walked down to Haafingar Stormcloak Camp, where I figured I could barter for some better equipment for him, but there was little of any use aside for some ebony arrows. From Haafingar, we walked down the lake and followed it for some time until we saw clouds of smile rise in the distance; "You see that smoke there?" I asked him as I pointed in that direction "those are bandits". "So are we going to take on bandits?" Erik asked as he squinted in the distance to see if he could actually see what I saw; I guess my beast blood must enhance my vision in some way. "Yes, you need more experience, and they would be happy to oblige". With that, I ran off the edge of the rocks we were standing by alongside the road, and dropped down into the water below and swam across to the other side; Erik feeling confident that he couldn't follow suit, took the long way by running across the stone bridge near by. I was on the other side of the water before Erik even made it to the bridge to cross over; I had saw who the bandits were from a distance where the could not yet spot me. One appeared to be a Nord who wielded a sword and shield; I couldn't see much of her face because it was covered behind a helm, the accomplice was a Redguard archer.

As I moved in for a closer look, the archer spotted me and she readied her bow and fired an arrow, narrowly missing me as I moved to the side. The Nord bandit now aware that they were under attack turned to my direction and bashed her sword against her shield to taunt me. "Come out and fight! I'm not afraid of you" she said tauntingly; "You should be". I dashed out of the bushes I has hiding behind, managing to dodge yet another on of the archers arrows; I raised my ebony blade and slashed down at the Nord bandit. She managed to block my attack just in time, but the force made her stagger back; the archer fired another arrow to support her companion, this one flew past my face, grazing my cheek in the process. I was about to take another swing at the Nord when a blast of fire and lightning hit her, dropping her to the ground as she screamed in agony; it was Erik. The archer seeing her companion down realized that she was outnumbered, and turned to fire an arrow at Erik; before she could ready her bow, I struck her down with my blade, as her back was exposed to me. Erik slowly walked up to me, examining the bodies as he did; "leave them here again?" He asked, feeling rather full of himself for killing a bandit, "yeah, leave them". After I checked the bodies for loot, I told Erik to go get us some fish to eat while I tend to the bandits fire, which had all but gone out; when he returned, he had caught three fish and had brought back some Mudcrab legs. Erik had a good day for himself as he recounted the events which not long ago happened as if I weren't there. As he went on and on about his actions, I tuned him out as I was recounting my own; trading Aeola for him, is this such a good idea? I'm still not sure as of yet, but he seems to be pretty useful, and is certainly eager. I decided that while Aeola was recovering, I would make Erik my student, and teach him all that I know; he would need it if he was to survive as a mercenary, especially working for me.


	6. Chapter 6

4E 203, 10th of Second Seed.

It is Loredas, and sometime in the evening, a few hours after the sun has set. It has been several days since the raid of that bandit camp with Erik, and he has shown a great deal of progress since. We have raided several other bandit camps since that day, as well as have run into the usual variety of fiends that lurk in the darkest reaches of Skyrim. I have taught him a great many skills that should prolong his life, should he continue to work as a mercenary after our time together is up; after all, he is just a temporary fill in for Aeola as she recovers in Whiterun. I taught him how to forage for medicinal herbs and edible roots and berries in the wild; I taught him which kind of weapon would be most useful against which kind of opponent. All these things he absorbed like a sponge, and yet he was still eager to learn more; he may be a novice, but he is willing to learn, and that will take him far in life. While I could generally appreciate his inquisitive nature, I begin to find that he spoke way too much for my liking; one of the things that I missed about Aeola was the fact that she didn't have to say much, as our communication was both verbal and nonverbal in equal measure. I've found that the more I watch his progression, the more I find myself thinking about Aeola; she's the only woman I know who carries beast blood with pride as I do, and what a woman she is! Sometimes I think, if I had never married my wife...would I have married her instead? Most likely not, but definitely I would've ended my many moons of exploring by settling down with a woman such as her upon my return to Hammerfell, where there are many such as her.

After Erik and I had spent some time traveling the backlands of Skyrim, I decided that it was time for us to look for a place to set camp, so we may rest and prepare for the next adventure. As we traveled we ran into a few hunters who kindly directed us to a great place to set up camp, as well as what would be our next place to explore; looking back I don't think that Erik could have ever been prepared for what he was to encounter. We arrived outside of Tolvald's cave as the sun began to set, and had a nice fire going before dark. As Erik drank and ran his mouth about the adventures we've had, and his time tending to farms prior, I gazed out into the mouth of the cave. I felt some sort of energy calling out to me from within the cave; could it be vampires once more? The hunters have told me that several people have gone missing in the cave, and several others have gone inside to search for them, only to not return themselves; what could be inside the cave? "Are you even listening?" Erik said, sounding almost insulted that I was not thoroughly engaged in his story about how he found a potato the size of a Giant's head in his field. "I'm sorry, I got distracted by that cave" I said, not quite apologetically. Erik then turned to look at the cave, as if doing so would give him some answer as to why I was more interested in that then his story. "It's fine, to be honest, I got tired of talking; I only talk like this when I'm nervous about something...or drunk". To that I laughed; I couldn't even hold it in, I laughed rather hard and it even surprised me. I think perhaps it was the fact that this man talks so damn much, he must either be a coward or an drunkard; seeing me laugh must've mad him relax though because he then joined in on my laughter, and together we had a good laugh for a few minutes. I still don't think he realizes that the whole time I was laughing at him, but who cares; none of that matters anyway.

"So, what do you want to do? We set up camp, should we go explore the cave?" Erik said, sounding like he was hoping I would say no; normally he would be right. "Erik, I've told you before, it is ill advised to go exploring caves in the dark when you're first starting out. However, something about this cave is drawing me in so...lets go." Erik didn't seem like he got the answer he was hoping for, but he readied his equipment as if he was all the same. He and I walked up to the entrance of the cave; Erik reached for a torch to light it, but I stayed his hand. "We go in under the cover of dark; something in there has been causing people to go missing, we don't want to be noticed." Erik nodded his head in agreement and we went inside the cave. As we entered the cave, I almost immediately regretted it; there was such a foul stench that it almost maddening. The cave reeked of mold, decay, and death; not the most fragrant combination of elements. Of course Erik could not pick up these things; it must be the beast blood again that has my senses heightened. We walked down a path till we reached a clearing, lit by a small camp fire; around the fire was a few sleep rolls, but no sign of their occupants. To the right was a rock formation that elevated above the camp site; the perfect place to get a better view of the surroundings. I motioned for Erik to follow me and we both made our way up the rock formation.

As we walked I saw that whomever started the fire left all their belongings behind. A tankard likely still full of beverage, a sack of food, and a chest; likely empty but here with the intention of filling it with the spoils of whatever lies deep within this cave. As we walked further up, I heard the low grunts of something familiar, and instantly knew the fate that befell whomever it was that entered this cave...Frost Trolls. For novice explorers such as Erik, Frost Trolls are a dangerous thing; they're hardier than their cousins and regenerate their health even fast. Unless you're a skilled hunter, or have plenty of fire to spare, death with surely come for those who face them unprepared. Fortunately for Erik, I have slain many a Troll in my time. We crept up the rock formation till I was directly behind the Troll; I had conjured my bound bow and prepared to get a clean headshot when Erik knocked over a bag of vegetables that the explorers had left behind, alerting the Troll. As it turned around it looked at us with its three eyes and matted fur, and jumped up as it slammed its massive fists into the ground, challenging us. I fired off a volley of arrows, one of which hit the Troll in its third eye, enraging it even further. Before I could ready the next arrow, two fireballs came flying past me from behind, finding their target in the Trolls chest, setting its white matted fur on fire. As the Troll tried to fight off the fire that now engulfed it, Erik and I laughed a final strike at the Troll, finally putting it down for good. "Not bad for a novice huh?" Erik said with a smug expression, but when he saw the dark look in my eyes, his grin faded away to more of a sulking expression. "That was too loud Erik, stealth is key in missions like this, try to remember that" I said as I jumped down from the rock formation to the clearing below. With the Troll dead, I searched around the camp to see if I could find any evidence as to what happened to the explorers who came here before us.

As I searched the camp site, I found a journal belonging to a hunter; from what I saw it would seem that he and his band of fellow hunters were tracking these Trolls down when they followed them to this cave. Apparently the found some sort of ruins in here, and that was where the entries ended; perhaps it wasn't the Trolls that killed them after all. Erik and I took what food we could use from the camp site and went deeper into the cave. After walking for a few minutes we walked past what appeared to be pillars of Dwemer origin, and then something that I was hoping I wouldn't come across; at the point where the path dropped down to go deeper into the cave, there was a rope going across the path, with bones tied into it...the work of the Falmer. "Erik, perhaps you should leave" I said to him; killing a Troll is one thing, but Falmer? This may be far outside of his capability. "Wait what? Why? I just killed that Troll with ease! If I could-" "There aren't just Trolls here you fool" I barked at him, cutting him off. "There are Falmer too..." "Falmer? You mean those Snow Elves that mutated into monsters? Who's scared of some freak Elves anyway?" Such a stupid man that Erik is I thought to myself, but I suppose he had to learn one way or another. "Fine, lets go. But just know that you may not make it out of here alive" I said to him as I made my way deeper down into the cave.

As we made our way down a narrow passage, I saw another Frost Troll pacing back and forth between a cutaway ahead. I readied my bow and fired a shot at the Troll, followed by a barrage of fireballs from Erik. He truly is wasteful with his magic; if he only knew what he has yet to face, I'd imagine he'd be more conservative. After we had killed the second Troll, we had come upon what appeared to be the bloody remains of one of the hunters. As that was left was splattered blood around the remains, and bone fragments with little flesh to speak of; that Troll had eaten quite well. As we continued on, a icy breeze of the Skyrim air outside had made its way in from an opening in the cave that led up to the surface. I'd imagine that one of the hunters may have tried to escape this way, but there was no way to climb up as the space was too wide; a sad way to go out if you ask me. Still, the cold air felt good against my sweat, and helped do away with the stench of death that filled this cave. In the distance I could hear the grunting of another Troll ahead, so I once again conjured my bow and made my way to slay it. As expected, after we killed this third Troll, there was the remains of another hunter nearby, as well as what appeared to be the remains of both humans and animals who had met their end long before these hunters came into this cave. The cave was fairly dark aside from the clusters of glowing mushrooms growing along the walls; but ahead of us was what appeared to be the light from a torch or another camp fire, another camp site perhaps?

We followed the light till I was able to verify that it was in fact the light from a torch, which led to a Dwemer door; I knew for a fact that we were to contend with Falmer; they can always be found in Dwemer ruins. I cautiously opened the door to find a room with several treasures laid out on a table; a gold sack, a potion of some sort, and a treasure chest. "Hey! Look at that treas-" "Quiet!" I barked at Erik, his loud mouth now really testing my patience. "Keep your weapons ready and don't touch anything; Dwemer ruins are full of traps". I looked around the cave and found some blood splatters on the ground, confirming my suspicions. The room was blocked off on both sides, but there was a pull chain on one side, which means there was something on the other side of the wall, something I was in no hurry to find. I knew now to expect an ambush, so I summoned a Wrathman, and then conjured my bow once more before I began looking through the items on the table. I picked up the gold and went in the treasure chest on the table when poisonous darts came flying at me. I easily evaded them, but almost as if on cue, the walls raised up and three Falmer came charging at us. Two Falmer attacked us from the left, while an armored Falmer Shadowmaster attacked us from the right. They charged at us with such speed that Erik hardly had time to react The two Falmer attacked my Wrathman, which had I not summoned it, they would have surely subdued Erik; the bigger problem however was the massive Shadowmaster which went straight for him. It swung its sword at Erik, who barely managed to block the attack with his staffs, however with its hand carrying a shield, the Shadowmaster bashed its shield into Erik sending him flying back into the cave walls. Realizing he was in danger, I fired several arrows at the Shadowmaster who easily blocked them with its shield; it paid little attention to me as it focused on Erik, making its way to him while he was still on the ground, stunned from the attack. "ERIK!" I shouted as the Shadowmaster charged towards him once again; he panicked, and in his fear fired off his staff for fireballs which engulfed the whole room in flames. The Shadowmaster staggered back from the intense flames, and I fired several arrows into its back while it could not defend itself, bringing it to its knees before I fired the kill shot, going through its neck. My Wrathman had finished up the other two Falmer, who were also in flames, and then vanished back into the realm of Oblivion.

"Wh-what the fuck was that thing?" said Erik, still visibly shaken from the whole experience. I walked up to him and held out my hand to help him to his feet. "That Erik, was the Falmer". Should I one day perish myself exploring these caves and someone happen across my journal who has never seen a Falmer in person, I shall tell you a bit about them. They are about the size of a man, but walked around slightly hunched over, so perhaps they are even taller than that. Their skin is pale and their eyes are red; the Falmer are completely blind from generations of slavery underground, and thus are considered feral, as they no longer resemble the elves that they once were. While they cant see, their other senses are heightened, and they move with such speed, it is easy for them to overwhelm you. "Do you want to turn back now?" I asked Erik with a slight grin, knowing now that he knew not to take the Falmer lightly. "No, they just took me by surprised is all, not at all what I'd imagine them to appear like...but next time we encounter them, I'll be ready". We searched the bodies for anything of use, of which we found nothing. We followed one of the paths that the Falmer used to ambush us, which led deeper into the cave, which now started to look more like their dwellings than a Dwemer ruin. The path led to another clearing, this was dimly lit; it would have been pitch black had it not been for the glow mushrooms again. I saw an alchemy table to my right, and directly in front was what appeared to be a gated area, the type of place I've seen Falmer keep their pets in the past...and their kill. I told Erik to watch my back as I investigated the gated area. As I opened the gate, I saw what looked like a body. I cast a magelight alteration spell on the ground to get a better view of the body and it was exactly as I assumed it to be; the body of one of the hunters. A hunter with some skill could easily take on a Troll, but Falmer? They didn't stand a chance. As I looked around I saw that he was surrounded by scattered bones, human most likely; also what appeared to be remains similar to the ones we found by the Trolls.

I summoned another Wrathman in anticipation of what was to come; if we were in the Falmers dwelling, it would only be a matter of time before we would encounter more. We turned a corner down another path when I saw two more Falmer up ahead; they were standing over another body, likely another one of the hunters. I readied an arrow and fired it at one of the Falmer I saw up above, hitting it in its helmet, but not quite killing it. They turned in the direction of the arrow and began to charge down at us. I fired off another round of arrows, stopping it in its tracks while Erik fired a volley of fireballs at the other Falmer, knocking it back. Another Falmer, this one a Shadowmaster as well, came from behind the previous two to attack as a fourth one came, this one wielding ice magic. The fourth Falmer launched a wave of ice that froze everything in its path; Erik and I dove out of its path, but my Wrathman wasn't so fortunate, as it was frozen solid. It cackled a bit as its bones cracked from the deep freeze before it returned to Oblivion. While I was on the ground, I fired off two arrows at that Falmers head, killing it quickly before it could launch another attack. With the biggest threat out of the way and only three left, Erik and I made quick work of dispensing them, hitting them with waves of fireballs and arrows, taking them down for good. After the area was clear, we searched this table to inspect the body that I had seen them standing over earlier, another hunter. I checked his body for any clues as to what may have been the fate of his companions, but deep down I already knew. I turned up with nothing so we decided to keep moving on, deeper into the cave.

We reached the end of the clearing when we saw a drop down point, and a Frostbite spider waiting for us at the bottom. Fortunately it was unaware of our presence and with a single arrow I swiftly disposed of it. Erik and I dropped down to explore the area; it was dark, even with the glow mushrooms on the cave walls. But off in the distance, there was the lively dance of fire along the walls; there was someone or something up ahead. I decided that using a bow and arrows wasn't the best means of dispatching these Falmer, so I instead decided to conjure a bound sword in its place. "How deep does this cave go? Does it even have an end?" Erik asked in a whisper as we walked towards the light. As we grew closer, it became clear that we had approached a Falmer outpost, as we could clearly see several Falmer tents in the distance. I summoned another Wrathman a bit ahead of us, as I felt that there may have been more Falmer lying in wait; sure enough, there were. The Wrathman went charging towards a Shadowmaster off in the distance, and Erik and I followed suit, right as two more Falmer came out of their tents to investigate. If nothing else good can be said about Erik, he is a fast learned, as he already figured out how to quickly handle them, as he fired off his fireballs from a distance as I closed the space between us, slashing the Falmer with my sword. The fight was brief as we looked around at the fresh Falmer corpses around us. Fortunately this time, my Wrathman survived the fight, but would soon return to Oblivion as the spell would eventually wear off.

It seemed like the deeper we went into the cave, the darker it became, and the walls felt like they were closing in around me; perhaps it I'm just being neurotic, or perhaps the spaces are really getting more narrow. I kept these thoughts to myself as we traveled in silence deeper into this deep caver, following the winding path down into who knows that demise that awaits us. Just when I thought it couldn't get any darker, the path before us began to become more visible; a good indicator that we were approaching another clearing. I turned around to check on Erik who stayed close behind, the Wrathman was no longer in our company; it is likely that it had returned to Oblivion as the spell wore off. As the path opened up to the clearing ahead of us, I could see Falmer in the distance; I knew that the battles we fought before would pale in comparison to what lies before us. "I hope you are ready for this, there are a lot of them ahead of us" I said as I turned to Erik, who appeared dismayed upon hearing this, but nevertheless nodded in acknowledgment. "Whatever you need me to do to get us out of here alive; next time I'll take your advice and stay out of caves after dark" he said with a slight smile, of which I returned one in kind. We crept up to a stone formation resembling a large column, the perfect cover to plan out attack. As I looked down, I counted four Falmer roaming about, what they were doing only the divines know. As I slightly stood up to get a better view, I heard the shuffling of feet right below me, followed by the snarl of one of the Falmer; no time to plan. We had been spotted and the Falmer that was closest to me began to make its way towards us. I had no time to launch a sneak attack, which meant that as soon as we fought with this one, the others would hear the commotion and come to join the fight. As the Falmer clashed its sword against Erik's, the others were now aware of our presence and swarmed in for the attack. Much to my surprise, there was more than four; twelve Falmer in total came from all corners of the cavern below us to attack. Erik had just ran his sword through the first one, and had begun to make his way down to the cavern below; a potentially fatal error. "ERIK! USE THE HIGH GROUND TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!" I shouted to him as I could barely hear myself think over the sound of multiple Falmer converging on us; and it wasn't just the Falmer, Frostbite Spiders and Skeevers also joined the assault. Erik launched an onslaught of fireballs at the enemies below as I tried to keep them from closing in on them by launching a volley of arrows in their direction; they may outnumber us, but from our position if we could keep them from overwhelming us, and ultimately killing us. As we were firing down below us, a lightning magic wielding Falmer appeared from the waterfall running into the cavern below, firing a bolt of lightning that struck Erik, causing him to shriek in pain. The lightning coursed through his body, forcing him to drop down to his knees, breathing heavily and fast as the pain almost caused him to go into shock. I rushed to his side, still firing arrows to see if I could assist him. "Erik, are you alright?" I said, knowing full well that he was in severe pain. "I *pant* I...I *pant*...it hurts so bad Noel *pant*". "just focus on breathing and then get back to your feet, we're not out of this yet" I said to him as I stood up and sent three arrows into the chest of the Falmer that had sent him to his knees.

No sooner did I stand back up to fire another round of arrows at the Falmer below did another one wielding lighting magic send a massive bolt in my direction, nearly crippling me as well. I felt my whole body contract to the point that it cramped up; I tried to resist its effect when another bolt of lightning go coursing through my veins, lighting my blood on fire...or so I thought. This second bolt incapacitated me and had me lying on the ground, in this moment I was almost certain that we were going to die. As I lie on the ground, the sounds of the world around me were muffled; I could only hear the pulse of my heartbeat and nothing more. "Unleash me" I hear a voice echo in my head. "Unleash me or you will die here"; I recognized this voice, the voice of the beast blood coursing through my veins. When I was blessed with the gift of lycanthropy, I made a promise to myself that I would only use it when the situation called for it; most people were terrified of Werewolves, and would attempt to kill us on sight...assuming they could that is. But this time, I was sure that if I didn't do something, this would be the last time I ever set foot into a cave. "Use me or you will DIE!" the voice roared in my head. As I lay on the ground stunned by the lightning, I could see a Falmer come up from the path below; it turned its head in my direction, and raised its sword over its head as it charged at me. Too weak to move, I just laid there; I thought about the warm desert breeze of my homeland. I thought about my family, my friends, all the people that I have come across in my travels. I thought about my wife and my children; sure they were adopted, but they're the only family I have here in Skyrim, I have failed them all. As I prepared to welcome deaths cold embrace, I saw Erik rise up from the ground and run his sword into the Falmer approaching me, the momentum causing both of them to fall over the side of the ledge and down into the caverns below; all I could do was reach out to him before everything went black, just like it did before I woke up in Skyrim.

"Noel...wake up Noel". I could've sworn I heard the voice of my father; but how could this be? Was I dead? "Wake up Noel". I struggled to open my eyes and when I did I saw a shadowy figure standing above me, the outline of which looked like that of my father. I closed my eyes again, and when I opened them, I saw Erik standing over me smiling. "Hey, are you ok?" He said as he extended his hand out to me; I looked at him, not sure how either of us were still alive and then took his hand as he helped me back up to my feet. His armor was covered in Falmer blood, but it appeared that he didn't sustain much damage himself. "How..how are you...are we still alive?" I asked him, still not certain that I wasn't dead and this wasn't the other side of death. "Well, I have a great mentor" he said with a grin. "Also, I may have used a few of the healing potions that you had me carry; I'm sorry". "Thank you" I said; it had been some time since I had thanked anyone for anything, especially saving my life. "Hey no problem, guess you're getting your moneys worth huh?" he said with a laugh. "And what of the Falmer?" I asked, still a bit puzzled, but certain now that I was still alive. "Take a look" he said, as he motioned over to the edge of the path leading down into the caverns below. As I looked I saw Falmer corpses laid out in all manners of awkward positions; I knew he didn't kill all of them on his own, but still...I may have underestimated him. "That's rather impressive Erik, I was certain that we were finished". "Yeah, I thought so too, but when I saw you drop down, I knew that if I didn't do something, we were both dead for sure" he said as we began searching the Falmer bodies for any loot they may have carried. At the bottom of the caverns, there was a stream where the waterfalls ran into; we followed the stream until it led to a runoff point where there was another clearing below. At this point I'm already tired of this cave, but we've come too far to turn back now.

As we followed the runoff to a bend that lead down to the clearing below, I saw another Falmer, this one alone for certain. Taking no chances on it alerting its kin, I fired an arrow into its ribs, piercing its heart and killing it instantly. Once I saw that it was safe to continue on, I motioned for Erik to follow me and we made our way down to investigate. We checked its hut and the continued to follow the water down into another winding path, which then diverted from the direction the water was flowing and went up. This is a good thing I thought to myself, as if the path is going up, we were likely getting closer to a way out. As we approached another clearing, we found another tent with another solitary Falmer making its rounds; I raised my bow to strike it down, but Erik stayed my hand, and instead launched a combination for lightning and fire at the Falmer, which killed it rather quickly, and quietly. We followed the path behind where we had killed the Falmer, which had taken us back along the path of the water. "There must be a mountain of rock above us" Erik said, in admiration of the fact that he had never been this deep down into the ground before. We followed the water till it led us to what appeared to be a walkway going across the flowing water beneath it; just in front of the walkway, there was water running down from above which obscured my vision, not allowing me to see what was on the other side. I turned back to Erik who then shrug his shoulders when he saw my expression; I guess he was thinking the same thing as I, to cross or not to cross? I drew my bow once more and decided to make my way across; no sooner did I make my way in front of the walkway did I see a dark figure come towards us through the water. Wasting no time, I blindly fired an arrow into the water and it hit its target, and in return I heard an all too familiar snarl. It was Falmer alright, but it wasn't the Skulkers or Shadowmasters that we had been accustomed to seeing no, this was a Warmonger.

This one was double the size of the Shadowmasters, who were double the size of your average Falmer as it is, and twice as heavily armored; this one was appropriately named as it came charging towards us, sword and shield in hand. As if that wasn't enough, behind this one was two more, we had found their main dwelling, and they were prepared for us. Deciding that I've had about enough of Falmer for one journey, I sucked in all the air I could as I took a deep breath through my mouth, and shouted at the Falmer using my Thu'um, filling the air with fire as I did so. The waves of flames sent the Falmer stumbling back; the perfect opportunity to strike. "NOW ERIK!" I shouted, and as he readied his staffs to launch his fireballs and lightning, I swapped my bow for two swords and charged at the Falmer. Erik sent his attacks to the Falmer in the back while I focused on the one in the front. As I swung one of my blades at the Falmer, it had blocked my attack with its shield, but I immediately swung my second sword at it and took its head clean off of its shoulders. I ran towards the second one who even through Erik's assault managed to swing its massive sword at me; I managed to slide beneath it, slicing its legs off as I went between them; the only weak point in its armor. The third one seeing its companions snarled in anger, only to watch me run my swords into its gut, splitting it in half as I pulled them apart. Erik seeing that I had killed the Falmer Warrmongers halted his attack, but his expression was one of surprise rather than relief. "H-how did you-" "Save your questions for when we get out of here" I said to Erik, cutting him off before he could finish what he was saying. He hesitated for a moment, but then nodded in agreement as we quickly made our way across the walkway. "Quickly before more come, don't know about you, but I've had enough of this place" I said to Erik, and he nodded in agreement as we ran across the walkway, and passed the empty Falmer huts, once occupied by the ones that I had just cut down. We followed another path that lead us up a winding path to what appeared to be a dead end. "Shit, we're stuck! How do we get out of here?" Said Erik, trying not to panic, or at least not show that he was, but with everything we've dealt with, can you blame him? "Check the walls, there's likely to be some sort of lever around here or something" I said as we felt around in the dark for the one thing we hoped would grant us our freedom from this cave. Sure enough, Erik found a chain level along the wall that when pulled raised the wall up, opening up to the camp site we had seen when we first entered the cave in what felt like ages ago.

We both sprinted past the camp site to make our way outside, and when we did, we were greeted by both snow and the night sky. Erik and I both sat down as we struggled to catch our breath from sprinting so hard; never have I been so glad to get out of a cave as I was now. As I looked out into the Skyrim wilderness, I heard Erik laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked, not sure what was so funny. "Nothing, I just...I suppose it is me that should've been paying you for your services" he said before bursting into laughter once more. Admittedly I laughed to; he was more right than he knew, but then again he did save my life so...money well spent on him. We stood up and walked back to our camp not that far from the cave; as we sat down by the fire, we both stayed silent for some time before Erik finally spoke. "So before, I wanted to ask you something...where did you learn to fight like that?" I meditated on this question for a moment before I replied "here and there; experience has been the best teacher I've had". "I see" said Erik, likely not satisfied with the answer as he was probably expecting something more profound. "So, what is your real name? I mean Noel the Redguard? That seems rather redundant; like calling myself Erik the Nord". I hesitated as it has been some time since someone has asked me my name, and even longer since I've spoke it. "That is obviously not my name, I've been called Noel the Redguard because you Nords are either too ignorant or too lazy to pronounce it properly". "That's understandable" Erik said in agreement, something I didn't expect from a Nord. "So then, what is your name?" "My name...my name is Nezzah-El Hassan Nebah".


End file.
